


Stages of grief

by LunaLeen



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist - All Media Types, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: F/M, Five Stages of Grief, Funeral missing scene, Gracia hughes centric, Maes Funeral
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-01-15
Packaged: 2021-03-12 20:29:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,010
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28766349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LunaLeen/pseuds/LunaLeen
Summary: FMA characters processing Maes's death.Chapter 1- Gracia/ Denial.
Relationships: Gracia Hughes/Maes Hughes
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	Stages of grief

**Author's Note:**

> Hello again, here I am writing about Maes's death again. I'll never get over his death tbh. I am planning on writing different characters going through the 5 stages of grief... maybe I’ll just do Roy and Gracia but I am not sure yet.
> 
> With that being said, I've never been to an actual funeral so I don't really know how everything goes. I wasn't sure if Gracia and Maes were religious, but let's pretend that maybe they were just a bit. 
> 
> English is not my mother tongue and I have no beta, keep that in mind :) and enjoy

She was acting so _normal_ after receiving the news that everyone around her was getting worried but what was she supposed to do? Her entire world had fallen apart in just one night, she didn’t even have time to process. 

She hadn’t seen him yet, Roy had been called to identify him, she wanted to go with him, but he didn’t allow it. The people from his office had taken care of most of the funeral preparations, she was only asked to pick up his suit. After that, she had been moved around from one place to the other like a lifeless doll. One of her friends had offered to help her take care of Elysia during the entire process, which she really appreciated because she didn’t know the answer to all of Elysia’s questions.

As she walked into the church, she was praying to whatever god there was to wake her up from that nightmare. What happened to Maes could not be real, he had survived a brutal war, he had a desk job, he was supposed to be safe. He could not be dead, it wasn’t fair. There were so many other people that deserved to die, there were plenty of killers, rapists, thieves... In what world was it fair to leave a kid without a father? In what world was it fair for her to become a widow before her 30s?

Part of her expected the whole thing to be part of one of his investigations, a secret military mission. She kept waiting for him to call her, send her a letter, to do something, anything to let her know that he was alright and that he was coming back. She would wait for him her whole life if she knew that he was okay, that he was alive. 

There were so many people at the church, civilians, and military. It didn’t surprise her, Maes made friends wherever he would go. 

She sat on one of the pews at the end of the church corridor, the coffin was situated in front of her, but it was on a higher level so she could not see what was inside. There were so many flowers around it, the smell was intoxicating. 

People would go to her and hug her, speak to her, but nothing registered in her mind, after a certain amount of ‘’Sorry for your loss’’ ‘’Be strong’’ the words had lost their meaning. 

The service had started but she wasn’t paying attention to anything being said. Whatever the priest was saying were just empty words. Maes's death had no purpose, there wasn’t a ‘’god’’ working in mysterious ways, he wasn’t in a better place. There wasn’t a better place for Maes than with his baby girl that would not stop asking when he was going to be back. 

* * *

The service ended and people started to leave, after a while, there were just a few of them left, among them she could see Roy, who looked completely devastated. 

She sat there unsure of what do to, was she supposed to go home and leave him there? The burial was set to happen the next morning, what was she supposed to do until then?

A hand on her shoulder brought her back to the present time. It was Riza, she kneeled in front of her. 

‘’Gracia is time to go home.’’ She said gently. ‘’Do you want to see him before we leave?’’ 

_ No _ , she didn’t. 

Riza knew she was still in shock; it hadn’t hit her yet. She also knew this was the last chance she had to see him and say goodbye since the casket was going to be closed for the burial. 

‘It’s okay if you don’t want to, but tomorrow the..’’

She stood up not wanting to hear more and walked towards the casket, Riza followed behind her. Every step getting harder and harder, she felt like her heart was going to burst out of her chest, she was scared, seeing him would make it real. 

He was laying there, on the suit she had picked up for him that morning, his hair slicked back. He looked unreal, like a wax statue, she touched him, his skin felt so cold and he wasn’t wearing his glasses. 

‘’that’s…. that’s not him Riza, where is Maes?’’ She asked confused. Maes never went out without his glasses, he used them even showering. 

She angrily walked towards Roy which was having a conversation which someone she didn’t recognized. 

‘’Roy, what happened to him? Where is he?’’

‘’Gracia he’’ 

‘’No, no, don’t lie to me, tell me where he is.’’ She pleaded in tears. ‘’Where is my husband Roy? That isn’t Maes, he’s so cold...he wouldn’t go out without his glasses’.’ 

Riza and Roy shared a concerned look while trying to calm her down and take her outside to get some fresh air, the shock of seeing Maes’s body had been too much, but she was fighting them trying to go back to Maes. 

‘’Gracia please’’ Roy pleaded, putting his arms around her and walking her outside of the church. 

‘’No, no let me go.’’ She yelled. ‘That’s not him, why are you lying to me?’’ 

Gracia was beginning to lapse into a panic attack, feeling lightheaded and tired. She hadn’t sleep in approximately 20 hours and couldn’t even remember the last time she ate or drank something.  Before they made it to the door her legs gave up and she lost consciousness, the last thing she registered was Roy supporting her head while laying her down on the floor. 

* * *

When she came to she was laying down on the backseat of a car, her head resting on someone’s thighs. she could not remember how she got there or whose car that was. She could hear some voices talking but she couldn’t understand what they were saying, she was so tired and confused, she just wanted to go back to sleep but then she _remembered_ , and no, it wasn’t a nightmare, this was her reality now, Maes was gone.

**Author's Note:**

> Wy do I write so much about death?
> 
> Anyways , thanks for reading.


End file.
